Second Home in Lake Arrowhead Area, need opinions on where (Crestline: ski resorts, for sale)

[ehopkins]

My husband and I are looking for a mountain getaway, a second home in the Lake Arrowhead area. We have visited many homes in the Woods, but determined it is out of our price range. We want to expand our search beyond to areas such as Arrowhead Villas, Twin Peaks, Running Springs and Rimforest. We ideally would like to stay under $250k and be able to rent it out here and there on air bnb.

1) In a few words, what is the reputation of these areas?
2) As a potential vacation rental, are there certain areas that would be more desirable?
3) Does anyone have experience as a vacation rental owner? Curious about your experience/success.

We are not interested in Big Bear and have decided against Crestline after reading some reviews on here. Any opinions would help!

[TacoSoup]

Great decision, my wife and I purchased a cabin up there two years ago and couldn’t be happier. You can’t go wrong with any community up there as long as you do your research on the neighborhood first. We looked at all the places you mentioned, but ultimately decided on Running Springs for its location between Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear, and proximity to Snow Valley. We didn’t want to drive any further once getting to the top of the hill unless we want to. We do find ourselves in Lake Arrowhead a lot for dinning, shopping, and the movies(blue jay), but most times the car never leaves the driveway.

I’ll let you know what we learned exploring every nook and cranny, and also from my good friend who has had a place up there for 30 years, and is also a realtor. His sister, who raised her kids up there, also gave us a world of knowledge from her years living there. I highly advise, much like any house, to check it out at all hours before putting an offer in, and while in escrow, even if it means renting a few times on Airbnb. Nothing could be worse than having loud neighbors while you try to get away for the weekend.

I know prices have gone up since we bought, I still check as I’m considering a second place strictly as a rental, but I still think you could get a decent place in Lake Arrowhead for 250K. It’ll need updating, and you might not get water rights to the lake though. I’d avoid the villas as they can be a nightmare getting into/out of when there’s a good snow storm. They’re also on very small lots

Rimforrest and twin peaks really don’t have much to offer, and are much further from the ski resorts. I do really like skyforrest, off the 18 and kuffel canyon road, for its proximity to Lake Arrowhead, and ease of getting to.

While arrowbear has a good location, I’d avoid it as well. Too many rundown houses on the tiniest lots imaginable.

We chose not to rent our place out, but our next door neighbor does, most of our other immediate neighbors are year round residents. All I can say is it’s rented most weekends we’re up there, and the families always seem nice, quiet, and respectful. I got to meet a lot of people who rent their places while talking on the ski lifts at snow valley, and they all told me they have no problems renting their places out. When there’s snow or a heat wave, it’s 100% occupancy.

Get a good local realtor, I can give you the name of mine if you like, if you’re serious about buying. There’s a lot of little things that you’ll overlook, and some realtors might not point them out as they want a sale. Things such as location to an access road, so you know when your road will be plowed. A flat driveway is key, as is the road getting to your house. Also things like having a south facing driveway, or one that’s not completely shaded by trees. You want that sun on your driveway come winter.

Good luck and PM me if you’d like me to go into more detail about anything.

[lae60]

You have good information from Tacosoup.

One other thing to consider is what you plan to do when there for recreation. If you want lake rights, the ability to put a boat on Lake Arrowhead or have a dock, you have to buy into the LA areas that have lake rights.

If you like skiing, then Running Springs is the place to be. Easy access from down the hill, and to the slopes.

If you have young kids and want to play in the lake water, swimming, etc. Then Lake Gregory (Crestline) is where that happens---so consider Twin Peaks or Rim Forest or Blue Jay.

If you like shopping, eating out, then nearer to Lake Arrowhead is better, so consider LA and Blue Jay.

[TacoSoup]

Very good points lae60

One place we both forgot, especially if you have little kids, or like isolation, is green valley lake. It’s about 4 miles up another hill off the 18 near snow valley. It’s has a tiny lake with a nice beach, lifeguards, and playground, perfect for little kids. While no motor boating is allowed, way too small, you can still paddle or row, and go fishing. While not much else to do there, they do have a restaurant, bar, and general store. I cannot attest to how tough it is to get to in the winter, but did hear they had to airlift food there many years ago after a big storm.

[Ulysses61]

One of the posters is completely wrong about price. You can't buy anything in Arrowhead Woods for under 300K at this point. The days of great deals has ended. As for Twin Peaks, I wouldn't live there personally, nor Rimforest. If I had to pick from the areas you listed, I would go with the Villas. I say this as someone who lived in Lake Arrowhead for 25 years and just recently moved away.

[TacoSoup]

Originally Posted by Ulysses61

One of the posters is completely wrong about price. You can't buy anything in Arrowhead Woods for under 300K at this point. The days of great deals has ended. As for Twin Peaks, I wouldn't live there personally, nor Rimforest. If I had to pick from the areas you listed, I would go with the Villas. I say this as someone who lived in Lake Arrowhead for 25 years and just recently moved away.

Are you sure about that? Here’s two in the woods for <$300K. And for the record I said you could get a place <$250K, but it probably wouldn’t have lake rights, and may need updating. You can still get those all day long.

https://www.redfin.com/CA/Lake-Arrow...m_content=link

https://www.redfin.com/CA/Lake-Arrow...m_content=link

[Ulysses61]

Originally Posted by TacoSoup

Are you sure about that? Here’s two in the woods for <$300K. And for the record I said you could get a place <$250K, but it probably wouldn’t have lake rights, and may need updating. You can still get those all day long.

https://www.redfin.com/CA/Lake-Arrow...m_content=link

https://www.redfin.com/CA/Lake-Arrow...m_content=link

Great, so there are 2 examples out of 400 homes in the Woods for sale. My general point stands.

[TacoSoup]

Originally Posted by Ulysses61

Great, so there are 2 examples out of 400 homes in the Woods for sale. My general point stands.

Ok, we’ll here’s more that sold since the first of the month, all <$300K, and all in the Woods.

https://www.redfin.com/CA/Lake-Arrow...m_content=link

https://www.redfin.com/CA/Lake-Arrow...m_content=link

https://www.redfin.com/CA/Lake-Arrow...m_content=link

https://www.redfin.com/CA/Lake-Arrow...m_content=link

https://www.redfin.com/CA/Lake-Arrow...m_content=link

https://www.redfin.com/CA/Lake-Arrow...m_content=link

I still stand by what I said, I check the market weekly. All the houses above sold at, or BELOW, list price. That, along with the fact that houses sit for much longer shows it’s still a buyers market in the mountains. While slowly increasing, prices are nowhere near their peak of 10-15 years ago. But this is always the case for secondary home markets, but I don’t need to tell you this as a former longtime resident. Which by the way, how long was it?

Originally Posted by Ulysses61

I say this as someone who lived in Lake Arrowhead for 25 years

Originally Posted by Ulysses61

I lived in Lake Arrowhead for 14 years

[SirLouie_17]

We are looking for a local lake arrowhead realtor, would someone be able to recommend a knowledgeable and honest realtor? I would really appreciate it. Thanks so much

[NORTY FLATZ]

Dog gone you TacoSoup! Now, I wanna go to Lake Arrowhead!

It's probably been 5 or 6 years since I've been...

Now, ya got me lookin' at cabin's up there!


(Thanks!)